In article <David_Nunn-101292131312 at tsikar1.life.uiuc.edu>, David_Nunn at qms1.life.uiuc.edu (David Nunn) writes...
>Anyone have a good method for cleaning cuvettes for electroporation?
>Especially useful would be methods that remove any trace bits of DNA, yet
>do not take a toll on the lifetime of the cuvette (no flames please, I know
>they are sold for single use, only :^).
>>David Nunn, Ph.D.
>Department of Microbiology
>University of Illinois
>Urbana, IL 61801
>(217) 333-6131
David-
We place our used cuvettes into a Branson sonicator and add a mild
detergent (joy or other dishwashing detergent). Turn on the heat to 50C and
sonicate for 45 minutes. The cuvettes are then thoroughly washed with dH2O
and finally placed on a cuvette washer and washed with 70% EtOH. We dry them
in a vacuum oven with no heat and store them in a sealed container. We have
not found any evidence of DNA or bacterial cell contamination by this method.
One note, the cuvettes do not last indefinitely, and in our hands are good for
about 6-10 electroporation cycles. After this, they usually have so many
cracks as to make them unsafe. Hope this helps,
"Ignorance is a
voluntary misfortune."
-- Nicholas Ling
Bob (Belas at mbimail.umd.edu)